My Fiancee and I are getting married at the end of the year and our honeymoon is in New Zealand. We are taking 21days to drive from Auckland to Christchurch, although it will be completely understandable if the itinerary changes. Our thoughts are with all friends and families over there that are affected.

Im sure they will soon get themselves back on their feet, and we are looking forward to going there to give our support even if it is another 9months away.

It's nice to see this post and the lovely thoughts behind it. Thank you!

I live and work in Christchurch and on this particular day I was working as an Advanced Paramedic, attending a patient on the second floor of a shopping mall when the earthquake struck. When the thick safety glass began shattering around me I knew this was big and within minutes became very aware that Christchurch had suffered hugely.

Unable to get hold of my family due to no communications, I became involved in the initial triage and treatment of patients, firstly in the northern areas of Christchurch, where I was at the time, but then moved towards the central city / Latimer Square to assist with the masses of casualties that evolved from the building collapses etc.

Approx 2 hours after the event I heard from my wife that she was safe but our home had been destroyed and that she was at a neighbors. The area we live in, Sumner, was hard hit being only 5 kms from the epi-center and there was massive rockfall in and around the area and it was at risk of becoming isolated.

Given I have a 3 month old baby and I had the car with the car seat at work my immediate concerns were to secure my family to a safe zone outside of this area and accordingly I left work and returned home, retrieved my family and removed them to a safe area and returned back to Latimer Square to hep out.

Christchurch city has had its heart ripped from its very core and will never be the same. I feel heartbroken for all those who have lost their lives, for the thousands who are now homeless, penniless and with nowhere to go.

I've lost my home, but we're safe and have the resources to start over.

I have lent all of my camera gear to a professional photographer who has lost his in the quake. It's enough for him to get by in order to fulfill his contracts outside of Christchurch in the short term. But I did take a few photos of our home before he got the camera in order to provide the insurance company with some info.

Here's a short video of both motion and stills of our home. How my wife, her friend and two babies got out of the kitchen dining room unscathed I'll never know. Someone was looking after them.

cjmchch, that was quite chilling seeing those images.
I can't imagine how you felt on seeing your home destroyed like that & even worse wondering, in the immediate aftermath, if your family was safe, while you continued to work & help others.

Thanks for the clips, it sure brings home how people over there have suffered.

This post has been a longtime coming. After we lost our home I had to put a lot of things on hold, including my photography hobby. Well I'm pleased to say that last week we moved into our new home that we built. While not quite finished on the outside, the interior is complete and I'm back into my hobby!